Black Watch Stables: What I've Been Up To Lately

I know I haven't posted anything in quite a long time -- live got in the way of blogging, as I'm sure many of you understand. This is going to be the mammoth update post that I promised in September (!!) with a few additions. =)

SO... let's see... What have I done? Well, the first thing is that the Model Hanoverian Verband is live. I created the MHV with Alicia Vogel in order to promote and advance the Model Hanoverian Horse in the hobby. I love Hanoverians; I've always loved Hanoverians, and I wanted to start something new in the hobby to promote the breed i love in the model format. I also wanted to kindof provide an education depot for people who do pedigree assignment about warmbloods in general and hanoverians specifically. For some reason, it seems like people in the hobby are intimidated by warmblood breeding and conventions; and I wanted to make it easier for people to learn and understand that this isn't really that difficult as long as a few simple(ish) rules are in place. So that's what we did. The MHV is a central place for the registration and approval of Hanoverians in the model hobby. We record pedigree information, approve mares & stallions, compile show results, and we'll also have year end awards and things like that to promote our breed. :) If this works out, we might start other registries as well in the future.

I've also put my S/D list up on the web. This is a continual work in progress as I get more guys PAed and of course keep adding new horses to the collection :)

And of course I've been to several shows... Logan (Timepiece resin by Prosser/Langford) has almost enough NAN cards now for his Superior Division Horse -- Not bad for a guy that competes only in jumping classes! He'll go to NAN and show in Hunter, Jumper, and Cross Country if all three jumping classes aren't on the table at the same time. If they are, we'll show in Cross Country, because his jump is absolutely amazing. He's got 9 cards in Showjumping, but I'd like to get him a better jumper jump before NAN if I'm going to show him there. Not that his jump isn't great -- i just want one with more pop. =)

Pik Atari (Kinetic Potential) has his Superior Event Horse award -- that's twelve cards in one class. He's also going to NAN and will show in Prix St. George. After that I don't know. He has nothing else to prove -- he's won a NAN Top 10 already, and in ~20 shows, he's won 13 NAN cards (I had to use one for NAN '07, of course) -- so he might retire. That depends on if i can get another upper level dressage resin to replace him, of course, but he might. If not though, we'll just keep trucking along...

Mahoney (OF Breyer Cleveland Bay) earned his Superior Division Horse award as well... He's going to show in as much of the OF english division at NAN as i can cram him in. He's been such a super consistent show horse for me, but I think that after NAN i will retire him. He's too big really to try to get in western tack or harness without having those specially made for him, and my budget isn't that big, so we'll just see.

My other show horses have been doing fairly well as well... I got all three of the new Treasure Hunt Models -- Looking forward to showing them, but I'm judging OF Breyer Breed at the next show (!!!), so I won't be able to show them until November or January. Its kinda sad, but I'm really looking forward to judging!! And my restored OF Glossy Dapple Grey Clydesdale took an overall championship in collectibilty at Red River Live in September, and then won another NAN card at Lone Star Live a few weeks ago. He's definitely going to NAN, because he belonged to my great Aunt Mimi, who died when I was 7. I've had him since then, and my dad bought him for her when HE was very young, so he's never been out of the family. Mimi would be so proud if she knew what a good showhorse he's become -- so his name is Mimi's Tribute, and every win is dedicated to her. Sappy i know, but she and I shared a love of horses and ALL animals.

Let's see... What else...

OH! I've been customizing! I mostly work in pastels, but I also do some work in oils. So these are some of my most recent Customs.

First is Logan, a portrait of the REAL logan done in oils and finished in mixed media on the G3 SM Standing TB mold. I shortened his ears and carved them out, but other than that he was not CMed. He was a christmas present for my mom.

This is a detail shot of his front leg. The real logan had a roanish leg that was pretty cool :)

Next is Rambeaux BWS. He's a slightly customized G4 WEG Warmblood in Dark Dapple Grey. He's pastel, colored pencil, and acrylic. I raised his hind leg a bit so he's correct for an extended trot -- he stands balanced on his own but its a bit tenuous, so I'm going to make him a base. All the under dapples were drawn in hair by hair with a black prismacolor pencil, then he was pastelled with the bigger dapples erased out with a kneadable eraser. I especially love the transition between his head and his neck.

This is his right side. I had to lean him up against a bug spray can!

And the left side

Detail of dapples

Detail of white foot

This is a CM I've been working on in oils and acrylics, a G4 Reining Horse SM. He's not LSQ, but i think he's decent. I like how rich the flaxen chestnut came out after the oils dried.

And this is my first CM finished in Earth Pigments. He's a Schleich Hanoverian Stallion to dark red chestnut with a tiny star and 2 hind stockings. Based on the TB stallion Eskendereya.